Hi John

I use my chainsaw quite a bit in the bush. I heat my shower water on the fire each evening and have a fire each morning too - in the really cold weather I may keep it going during the day.

Currently I have 180W of solar and the caravan comes with 120W so that'll be 300W in total which should do a decent job in summer providing they can see good sun but I'm not optimistic of its performance in winter in Vic.

Compressor fridges and *especially* freezers are the real killer as they do consume a lot of energy. The caravan fridge will be on gas so that will help but, then, maybe I'll need an extra gas bottle! :) There's nowt for nowt when it comes to energy.

Aside from the fridge/freezer I don't use much electrical energy; these days my lighting is LED (although I may buy another Coleman dual fuel) and SSB Amateur Radio doesn't use much power and I don't watch TV. Like you, I'm normally in bed by 9.30pm or so- although that means I'm up at 5am or 6am.

As you imply, there is a learning curve ahead of me... and I'm looking forward to it :)

You have already mentioned fresh milk, Mike

Travelling with the wife, we run out of fresh milk, after about five days
We usually carry 5 litres (maximum), as we only have a small fridge

On the other hand, about five days is our usual stay in any one place, before we go shopping, (perhaps because of the milk)
This is what I seem to have adapted to

Travelling solo, I have never ran out of milk, or anything else, as I buy long life full cream milk, by the carton (12 litres I think)
Plus I always have plenty of canned stuff on hand

Fresh fruit and salad makings are what we run out of first. And what we miss the most. We could get by for 4-6 weeks when tenting, 6-8 weeks in van, on the general foods we could carry, though not all items would be our first choices when living normally (like powdered milk!). Could keep things like onions, potatoes, oranges, apples, carrots by wrapping each item individually in newspaper for storing.

Hi Mike

Been an interesting tropic to follow.

As we don't go that remote for a very long time I stayed out of answering until now, I thought I would sit back and learn.

We did go Far North Queensland this year from Brisbane to Karumba taking mostly back roads for a extended period of time, after about month or so on the road our supplies were looking a little sad, we were at Normanton when we found we were low on salad and veggie along with snack type biscuits. The prices here were very expensive and the produce a little sad so we did go without until we got to Atheraton 2 weeks later picking up the odd thing here and there.

We do like to support small town butchers, so we would pick up a small amòunt of meat as we go.

Water and power are not so much a problem it was fruit and veggies along with bakery items. I did get caught out with my meds for a few days also but managed it, I could of had them bused in to be fair.

Next long trip out we will carry double the amount of fruit cake with variety for sure, spoke with my Doctor and will have a better set up with medication.

With our style of retirement we mostly tourer and fuel is really the first thing that needs attention on our 2 to 3 months excursions. Phone service and TV are up there as the first thing we run out of, but funny we survive without them.

This is my thoughts only, I did not consult the management. Ralph.

As Radar noted, medication can be an issue.

I had to wait for a script in Broome. Couldn't hoard enough to last my trip. There is a nightly flight from Perth with all sorts of goods on board so I only had to wait until the following afternoon.

If you have schedule 8 medication, that can be a massive deal if you are not in the state that the script was issued in. We had to wait several days in Katherine to get my wife's schedule 8 script filled (doctor's visits and e-mails from her doctor at home). A friend travelling with us had brought enough chemo medication with him but still had to visit a doctor to administer it to him.

Hi Radar

Good point about medication. I take some for blood pressure and hopefully can persuade the pharmacist to dispense two months worth.

Salad stuff is a problem and one cannot expect most of it to last longer than a week tops. How about bean salads? Vegetables, I take fresh but they are soon eaten then it's frozen veg which are pretty good these days.

It's going to be a learning experience I'm sure - and although I may have to go without some comforts or eat some bland meals I don't think I'll starve :)

Many thanks to all for your replies.